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My conclusion is that Google can not make up their mind how to treat them. Sometimes their power is united with the site. Sometimes they are isolated. When they are isolated all of the assets that you have placed on them have little value towards the success of your website.

So, if you want your web assets to consistently receive favorable treatment and pull in concert for your domain then they should all be placed in folders on the primary domain.

It is easy to be fooled by observing "how subdomains are being treated today" because google will likely change their mind tomorrow.

Sub-domains in my experience are not the best way to dissect your content or your site with topics as varied as you are suggesting. The best method might be internal directories.

For Example: www.flower.com/roses/red.html and not - roses.flower.com/red-roses.html

I tried using sub domains when I first started out, for my own business and duplicate content issues together with so much additional updating when major changes were required made it a hassle that was not rewarded in ranking benefits.

I recently spent a month eliminating my sub-domains from search and found much more time available to focus on my main site. My rankings in local search flew to the top within a couple of weeks and organic rankings also benefited.

You may already know this Gordon, but I wanted to point this out because so many new businesses build a site which does not cover their "customer needs". A site map will give you a clear picture to expand your content for your targeted audience, as well as the SEO benefits.

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